Back from Alabama and heading to Las Vegas soon …
• The hire of Kliff Kingsbury as offensive coordinator in Las Vegas is a solid one, for a couple of reasons.
First, the Las Vegas Raiders should have one of the more difficult offenses to deal with in the NFL. It took Kingsbury a little while to adapt to the pros five years ago. But back then, the heavy emphasis on 10- and 11-personnel sets immediately put a strain on defensive coaches. With tighter hashes, and bigger, longer, faster athletes condensing the field, playing the “get the ball in space” game wasn’t the same in the NFL and he had to adjust.
In time, Kingsbury added more concepts incorporating tight ends, gap runs and more detail in protection (there’s not much of that in college Air Raid systems) while maintaining the guts of what he’d always done. And that offense, because of its roots, was more accessible for a lot of guys coming from the college game to the Arizona Cardinals.
The result was a unit that ranked top 10 in the league in Kingsbury’s second and third years before injuries decimated the group (Kyler Murray’s included), and the bottom dropped out in the coach’s fourth and final season in the desert.
So there’s all of that, and then the fact that Kingsbury can help Antonio Pierce’s experience gap, with the new Raiders head coach bringing only two years as an NFL assistant to the table.
• The hire of Kingsbury also means we can start to take a more realistic look at which quarterbacks the Raiders might consider. Kingsbury had a year with Caleb Williams at USC—the new Vegas OC told me in September that the similarities between Williams and Patrick Mahomes (who Kingsbury had at Texas Tech) are “eerie”—but I think it’s unlikely the Chicago Bears trade out of the opportunity to take him.
From there, it’s worth considering that Pierce was with LSU’s Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels for three years at Arizona State and that Daniels would stylistically fit the offense that Kingsbury will likely build. Beyond draft prospects, there are guys potentially available like Baker Mayfield (who played for Kingsbury at Tech) and Justin Fields, who could also work well in the scheme.
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The good news? The offense is adaptable enough for Vegas to cast a relatively wide net.
• We’ll have more on the Washington Commanders’ hire of Dan Quinn on Monday. For now, I’d just say that, yes, UCLA’s Chip Kelly is a name to consider for offensive coordinator. I also wouldn’t ignore Kyle Shanahan’s potential influence in the process. Shanahan was Quinn’s OC in Atlanta, and Peters and Shanahan, of course, worked together for the last seven seasons in San Francisco.
• Along those lines, the Seattle Seahawks considering Alabama offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb, who just arrived in Tuscaloosa from Washington with Kalen DeBoer, is one worth watching. Grubb’s been DeBoer’s play-caller at two different schools, and that offense is one NFL folks have been studying intently for a couple of years now—leading to mounting interest from the pros in poaching Grubb from the college game. We’ll see if that happens here.
• Kelly’s candidacy brings into focus, again, a potential exodus of coaches from college football to the pros, following Boston College coach Jeff Hafley bolting for the Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator job earlier in the week. The reason? For a lot of coaches, this is a lifestyle choice, with the complications connected to NIL, the transfer portal and an increasingly grimy recruiting landscape making even the best jobs in college football around-the-clock assignments.
• Kevin Koger was an under-the-radar hire—but a smart one by Raheem Morris and Zac Robinson in Atlanta. The new Atlanta Falcons tight ends coach is widely respected, and getting him was a priority for the head coach and offensive coordinator, as they put together a plan to try and get the most out of Kyle Pitts.
• Assuming a deal to make him the Tampa Bay Buccaneers OC gets done (and it’s not quite done yet), Liam Coen is about as prepared for the job as someone who hasn’t called plays in the NFL can be, with two stints with the Los Angeles Rams (one as a non-play-calling coordinator), bookended by two runs as Kentucky’s offensive coordinator and play-caller. Coen’s experience with Mayfield in a fire-drill situation with the Rams in 2022 doesn’t hurt either—so long as the Bucs get Mayfield signed.
• One piece of fallout from Ben Johnson staying in Detroit could be the loss of a potential successor for the team’s play-caller. Pass-game coordinator Tanner Engstrand will interview for the OC opening in Seattle. And should he land the job, Dan Campbell & Co. might have to hatch a new long-term contingency plan. Eventually getting new Denver Broncos assistant Pete Carmichael Jr., an old staffmate of Campbell’s from New Orleans, could be one.
• Alex Van Pelt’s underrated trait that I think factored in his hire as the New England Patriots offensive coordinator: his ability to bring people together. He was the glue of Kevin Stefanski’s staff in Cleveland. And having a guy who can strengthen bonds within a staff is something that New England could use, especially after the fracturing that happened with last year’s group.
• Good luck to Teddy Bridgewater in his new role as head coach at Miami Northwestern High, his alma mater. The former quarterback is universally liked, and a pro, and should be great in working with high school kids.
